Generally, occlusion refers to a state in which teeth at an upper jaw and a lower jaw occlude each other when a mouth is closed. Also, malocclusion means an inaccurate occlusion relationship in which an arrangement of the teeth is not aligned due to a certain cause or an occlusion state of the upper and lower jaws deviates from a normal position and causes functional and aesthetic problems.
Here, although a cause of malocclusion is generally known to be a genetic effect, there are many causes thereof such as shapes or sizes of teeth, environmental influence, bad habits, wrong posture, dental caries, or the like.
Meanwhile, when malocclusion occurs, since tooth arrangement is not aligned, food residue may easily remain between teeth. Also, since it is not easy to tidily manage teeth through properly brushing the teeth, dental plaque increases in an oral cavity and gum diseases such as dental caries, gum infections, or the like easily develop. In addition, due to a tooth that greatly deviates from a normal tooth arrangement or a jaw that is abnormally positioned, teeth may be easily damaged, such as odontoclasis and the like, when an external shock is applied thereto.
Accordingly, orthodontic treatment for treating malocclusion is performed. Here, the orthodontic treatment uses a predisposition of teeth to move when receiving an external force.
In detail, various apparatuses and methods are used in orthodontic treatment depending on causes or a treatment period therefor. For example, the apparatuses may be classified into an apparatus for restraining or enhancing development of upper and lower jawbones and an apparatus for gradually moving teeth to desirable positions. Also, the apparatuses may be classified into a removable apparatus installable in or separable from an oral cavity and a fixable apparatus attached to teeth and detached when treatment is completed.
Meanwhile, one method that is currently most generally used is a fixable treatment method of attaching an apparatus called a bracket to a tooth and moving the tooth using tension of a wire such as an orthodontic steel wire, a rubber band or the like, and it may be generally used in various types of orthodontic treatment.
In detail, brackets are firmly attached to surfaces of teeth that are orthodontic objects and a wire is fixed to connect the brackets with one another. Also, a direction and level of a force applied to the wire is variously adjusted by controlling tension applied to the wire, thereby gradually moving the teeth that are orthodontic objects. Accordingly, the teeth that are orthodontic objects are changed in position and posture by the tension of the wire, and the teeth are gradually moved while orthodontic treatment is performed.
However, since typical orthodontic treatment is executed according to experience of an orthodontist, the orthodontist finely adjusts tooth arrangement by repeating a process of directly pulling or releasing a wire fastened to teeth of a patient without certainty. In this case, since the teeth are adjusted to a preferable tooth arrangement through repeated trial and error, time consumed for orthodontics increases and convenience and pain of the subject are aggravated
Also, since much depends on an ability of an orthodontist, typical orthodontic treatment is not objective. Also, since a subject should completely depend on the experience and ability of an orthodontist, it is generally difficult to provide a desirable tooth arrangement state.
In addition, the experience and knowledge of the orthodontist are detailed materials that are data which is difficult to record and differ according to personal abilities and experiences of orthodontists. Due to this, since a desirable tooth arrangement model that is the ultimate object of orthodontics is formed using a subjective point of view or subjective experiences of an orthodontist, orthodontics are not universally and objectively performed.
Meanwhile, a bracket is provided to be substantially uniform with a single size, and one side of a pad portion is formed to be flat and is adhered to a tooth that is an orthodontic object using an adhesive member. Here, since positions of brackets attached to adjacent teeth in the tooth arrangement are irregularly fixed, the tension of the wire is not properly transferred to the teeth that are orthodontic objects.
Due to this, the teeth are not straightened to a desirable arrangement so that satisfaction of the subject is decreased and additional orthodontic operations for straightening the same are repetitively performed, thereby increasing an orthodontic treatment period and orthodontic costs.